Our correspondent says he appears to be alluding to fears that there are those elsewhere in the Eurozone who want to put the Greek Prime Minister in an impossible position, and engineer the collapse of his radical left-wing government. There are also reports that Greece has rejected an IMF counter-proposal calling for bigger VAT increases, and deeper pension and public spending cuts.

The remarks came as Mr Tsipras prepared for fresh talks to secure a debt deal. Greece must repay €1.6 billion (£1.1 billion) to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by the end of the month, or face default and possible exit from the EU. Eurozone finance ministers are due to finalise a deal on Wednesday evening. On Wednesday, the ECB again increased additional emergency funding for Greek banks to stave off fears of a bank run - the fifth time in eight days it has done so as fearful savers withdraw up to €1 billion a day from domestic banks.

Tight schedule - the week ahead:

Wednesday: Eurozone's 19 finance ministers meet to go through details of latest proposals

Thursday-Friday: Scheduled meeting of all 28 EU member states - any agreement could receive leaders' backing here

Saturday-Tuesday: Agreement will need to be approved by Greek parliament and other eurozone governments - including vote in German Bundestag

Tuesday 30 June: Deadline for Greek repayment of €1.6 billion to IMF

Indeed, according to a comprehensive league table of hyperinflation compiled by Steve Hanke, professor of applied economics at The John Hopkins University, Greece and Germany are among the worst such inflations of the modern age. If you think Greece is bad, with inflation peaking in October 1944 at 13,800 percent per month – yes, that’s per month – it’s got nothing on Germany, whose inflation rate reached an astonishing 29,500 percent per month in October 1923.

The Weimar inflation was arguably the fault of the Allies, and the reparations settlement forced on Germany by the Treaty of Versailles, while the Greek hyperinflation was undoubtedly the work of the Germans, who forced the Greeks to pay the costs of the occupying army. Yet leaving aside the recriminations, the two episodes had the same underlying monetary and fiscal causes, common to virtually all hyperinflations; denied access to debt markets, and with the tax system in a state of collapse, governments tend to resort to the only available alternative to pay their bills – the central bank printing press. The government issues bonds, and the central bank buys them.

It’s the modern day equivalent of the currency debasement that took place under Henry VIII, widely nicknamed in his time “Old Coppernose”, on account of how the increasingly thin layer of silver on the coinage would wear off on this particular part of the king’s image. For everyone’s sake, this needs to end. The tragedy is that there is not much prospect of it any time soon. And even if Greece did leave the euro, the comedians that now front for a government would not have the stomach for the reforms necessary to support a currency board. It might indeed take another hyperinflation to bring this benighted nation to its senses.

As the standoff between the government of leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and its creditors in the European Union and International Monetary Fund has deepened, there have been growing warnings of an "accident" that could force Greece out of the euro.

This is what it may look like. If the pace of withdrawals continues, Greece may have to introduce capital controls, limiting the amount people can take out of their bank accounts and bringing into plain sight the prospect of an exit from the euro that would ravage savings. "It's very possible that this thing we hope to avoid will occur. Of course if it happens, the next step is chaos and catastrophe," said 55-year-old economist Ioannis Simaresis as he queued up to take money out of a cash machine.

For months, Greek banks have relied on emergency infusions of central bank funds to stay afloat, but with more than 4 billion euros taken out of the system this week, reserves are shrinking fast. If the withdrawals continue, a credit system that has been hollowed out during years of recession could reach the point of no return.

But perhaps more importantly from a big picture perspective, Greece may have already breached the upper limit of its borrowing base. JPM calculates Greek banks’ eligible collateral at €121 billion (€38 billion in EFSF bonds, €8 billion in government securities, and €75 billion in “credit claims”). With Friday’s ELA increase, the country’s total borrowings (that’s OMO plus ELA) amount to some €125 billion. Why would the ECB allow this? Because it knows the breach will be promptly limited or reversed on Monday, or there will be a deal.

As Barclays notes, during the same period over which Greek banks lost nearly €30 billion in deposits, banknotes in circulation jumped by some €13 billion. In short, because Greeks are increasingly prone to stuffing their euros in mattresses, a large proportion of the deposit flight has come in the form of hard currency withdrawals, meaning the Bank of Greece is forced to (literally) print billions in physical banknotes.

The amount of banknotes in excess of the quota for Greece (about €27 billion) represents a liability of the Central Bank of Greece to the Eurosystem in addition to the net liabilities related to transactions with the other Central Banks in the Eurosystem (Target 2 liabilities). Of course, given Germany’s massive TARGET2 credit with the ECB, a liability to the Eurosystem is, for all intents and purposes, a liability to Germany.

So we can add the quiet printing of some €13 billion in banknotes to the list of reasons why German Financial Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, a growing number of German MPs, and, increasingly, the German people have run completely out of patience with Athens.

Such a shortfall would have been unimaginable in establishment circles just a few years ago, when it seemed as if no Western economy would face an economic crisis ever again. And how could such a massive shortfall not trigger an immediate Armageddon, sterling crisis and bond market crash?

The problem for the UK is that while our recovery is real, and some genuine fiscal tightening has taken place, many weaknesses remain; and nobody really knows for sure how consumers and businesses will respond to being weaned off from the drug of easy money. The current account deficit is huge; house prices are horrendously inflated, especially in London and the home counties; the gilts market remains astonishingly favourable to the government, with massive demand for what by historical standards remains low yielding securities; the pound has shot up, hitting exporters; and productivity growth remains abysmal.

We continue to be propped up by relatively low oil prices, even if they are much higher than they were. Rates should have risen modestly a while back, to help the economy readjust to more normal conditions; when the monetary tightening does eventually take place, it will come as a shock.

To paraphrase a claim that became infamous five years ago, we shall soon find out whether the UK is still lying on a bed of nitroglycerin...

"The US Secretary of War calls on Europeans to confront the Russian 'aggression'," Lafontaine writes after a strongly-worded introduction. "The Europeans have every reason to oppose the US aggression." The EU recently agreed to extend economic sanctions against Russia for six more months. The introduction of those sanctions was highly encouraged by the US, but according to a recent study, they are hurting the EU more than initially expected, threatening some 2.5 million jobs.

Lafontaine …concludes: "You continue to play with fire, and Europe has paid with revenue declines in trade with Russia and the loss of jobs ... We need a European foreign policy that restrains the warmongering US imperialism!"

First spotted by open source developers, the Chromium browser – the open source basis for Google’s Chrome – began remotely installing audio-snooping code that was capable of listening to users. It was designed to support Chrome’s new “OK, Google” hotword detection – which makes the computer respond when you talk to it – but was installed, and, some users have claimed, it is activated on computers without their permission.

“Without consent, Google’s code had downloaded a black box of code that – according to itself – had turned on the microphone and was actively listening to your room,” said Rick Falkvinge, the Pirate party founder, in a blog post. “Which means that your computer had been stealth configured to send what was being said in your room to somebody else, to a private company in another country, without your consent or knowledge, an audio transmission triggered by … an unknown and unverifiable set of conditions.”

Germany’s rising power can be measured by the roles that German nationals now play inside the EU bureaucracy and the European institutions. German officials and elected members of the European Parliament wield many of Brussels’ levers of power, including the parliament’s presidency, currently held by Martin Schulz.

The plum post of Head of Cabinet to the European Commission’s Luxembourger president, Jean-Claude Juncker, is a German, as was his predecessor when Portugal’s José Manuel Barroso ran the EU executive. Although the culture of the “eurocrats” who make up the EU’s civil service emphasizes disinterested neutrality, it would be naive to think that nationality plays no part at all.

Uwe Corsepius will hand over his post at the Council of Ministers to a senior Danish diplomat on July 1, before taking up his new job as German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s adviser on EU matters. He is widely seen to have exerted considerable influence on the setting of inter-governmental agendas during his time in Brussels. And his counterpart at the European Parliament, Klaus Welle, has shown no sign that he will relinquish his position or soften his ambition to win still greater powers for the parliament.

But counting heads in the EU institutions does not give the full picture of Germany’s ascendancy. Its true nature and extent are to be found in the ranks of civil society. From think tanks and NGOs to media and business lobbying, Germans have become the EU’s foremost movers and shakers. In the face of a possible UK referendum, the challenge for Germany is to provide Europe with the vision and creativity that effective leadership requires, along with the diplomatic skill to avoid alienating its partners.

Glick told Breaking Israel News that there are billions of dollars worth of gold in Mount Eilat, which he and his partner, Yehoshua Friedman, have received an exclusive license to unearth by the Israeli government. Explaining the discovery, Glick said that everything began with Friedman, a Temple Mount researcher who had been studying each of the 12 unique stones set on the breastplate of the High Priest as described in the Bible. Each stone represents one of the 12 tribes of Israel.

During his studies, Friedman realized that without a geology background he could not properly appreciate the depths and meanings behind each of these stones. This led to his discovery that in 2007 gold had been found in the mountains of Eilat by an Australian research team, who later abandoned the dig because the value of gold at the time was not worth their efforts.

When asked what these modern day Biblical explorers plan to do with their billions in gold, Rabbi Glick replied, “Ultimately, we expect to use the gold in the rebuilding of the Third Temple. Whether we use the gold itself for creating vessels and decoration or by selling the findings and using the money to buy the materials and manpower needed to rebuild the Temple, we look forward to that great day!”

We’re so politically correct these days, that pretty soon we’re going to have people who want to be respected for the anime characters or inanimate objects they really feel they are inside or… well, really the sky is apparently the limit so go ahead and fill in the blank. What’s next, someone who is 15 really feels they are 21 inside so they should be legally recognized as old enough to buy alcohol? Or how about a 15 year old who really feels he is 85 so he should get social security benefits because he’s “trans-aged”? Then what? Transanimals (a guy who thinks he’s really a narwhal)? Transoccupationals (a bus driver who thinks she’s really a movie star?) Transmuppets (some dude who really thinks he’s Big Bird)?

And since the media made such a huge deal out of Bruce Jenner’s transformation into Caitlyn, it really wouldn’t be fair not to follow that slippery slope all the way down to the bottom equally for everyone else, now would it? That wouldn’t be the politically correct thing to do. If we have to respect and celebrate Caitlyn Jenner for who “she” really is, then logic does follow that we should also have to equally respect some guy who claims he feels handicapped even though he really isn’t… right?

I guess in that case I’m transonepercenter. I feel I really should’ve been born the multi-millionaire that I really am inside… (Where’s my check?)

The president won elections in March on a promise to tackle corruption, seen as one of the country's biggest problems. Nigeria is Africa's biggest oil producer but much of the revenue is said to be stolen. "The days of impunity and lack of accountability are over," he told a meeting of state governors on Tuesday.

He said Nigeria would get the "facts and the figures to help us recover our stolen funds in foreign countries,'' over the next three months. He did not specify which other countries had agreed to help recover the money. In an earlier briefing with journalists, he said it was a "disgrace" that some government workers had not been paid for months.

If it fails to do so, it risks crashing out of the euro and possibly the EU. After the talks ended on Monday evening, Mrs Merkel said that everyone taking part wanted Greece to stay in the eurozone, "myself included". "The proposals offered by Greece today constitute some progress. However, it became clear during our discussions that there is a lot of work to be done and time is short," she said.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras also met the heads of Greece's three international creditors - the IMF, the European Commission and the European Central Bank (ECB) - in Brussels. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker - one of the key power-brokers - told a late-night news conference: "I am convinced that we will come to a final agreement in the course of this week". However, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble was more negative, saying he had seen nothing new from Athens.

And there was some pessimism from Greece itself, with deputy parliament speaker and Syriza lawmaker Alexis Mitropoulos reportedly telling Greek TV that lawmakers would find it "difficult to pass" the latest package of reforms.

To give just one example of the complexities Mr Theocharis wrestled with: in Greece there are six different rates of VAT. The normal rate is 23% - there are two reduced ones for items such as food, fuel and medicine. But the Greek Islands enjoy reduced rates of VAT to encourage people to stay in remote parts of the country and to help the vital tourism industry there. That makes six rates in all, and creates plenty of opportunities for dodging tax.

Greece also has a pension system that is amazingly complex, with numerous exceptions for different jobs allowing for early retirement. The pensions are not very generous on average, but overall the Greek government is spending 30% more on pensions than the British government does. The whole system is in desperate need of simplification in order to make it cheaper to run.

Then there are the cuts that have been reversed, such as the reopening after two years of the state broadcasting company ERT, which started programmes again this year. The problem therefore is not so much that Greece is incapable of reform or does not know what needs doing, but that it has wasted five years of the bailout without making serious attempts to fix the structural problems that beset the economy - and in many cases it is actually going backwards.

If it had started five years ago, it might have been seeing the results by now as countries like Ireland and Spain have done, but one of the reasons that the Greek bailout has reached another crisis point is that it has hardly started. It is not the kind of record that is likely to make the countries that are lending Greece all that money trust them with some more.

The greatest danger to the euro is not that Greece leaves, but that its rejection of economic rationality encourages other, larger states to follow suit. If Greece is able to have its cake (a sound currency) and eat it (by refusing to reform its welfare state and by relying on handouts), radicals in Spain or Italy will eventually demand the same for themselves. Greece is containable; the Club Med giants wouldn’t be.

Forcing Greece out of the euro would be a gamble, of course, and the markets may panic, but there is a good chance that contagion could be prevented. Allowing Greece to thumb its nose at those who try to live within their means would be far more risky. In this case, if it had any sense, the EU would agree to a tactical retreat and allow Greece to walk away from its debts and from the euro.

This would also be good for the Greeks themselves, even though they would suffer in the short term. The latest proposals on VAT, pensions and the rest don’t change the fundamental problem. Greece must devalue its currency: that is the only way that its economy can possibly bounce back. A weaker currency – a new, freely floating drachma – would boost exports and attract far more tourists.

Europe’s leaders need to accept that Greece cannot thrive unless its debts are written off, and that this wouldn’t be acceptable to other countries unless it also exited the euro. For everybody’s sake, it is time to set Greece free.

The centre-Right mayor’s latest broadside against Britain came as aid agencies in Calais are warning that the migrant crisis has reached record levels, with the population having swollen from around 1,000 in April to 3,000 this month and hundreds more expected in the coming weeks. Aid workers warned that some of the sprawling makeshift campsites, known locally as the Jungle, have become so large as to be untenable.

Speaking to France Info radio, Ms Bouchart said: “I am calling for a diplomatic incident with the British government. We are forced to endure situations that are inexplicable.” “Great Britain must either enter Europe with all the conditions of Schengen, or leave Europe, but there comes a time when we can no longer be held hostage.” She insisted that the UK would help matters if it introduced “drastic” new rules making it harder for migrants to live and work in Britain, thus lowering its attractiveness. She has previously accused the UK of turning a blind eye to illegal immigrants working in the black economy.